Who are you as a learner? - Week 1 homework Think back to the Hermann Brain Dominance test earlier this week …
What are your learning styles? What have you learnt about yourself from the Hermann Brain activities this week?
After following the steps to complete the Hermann Brain activities I discovered that I belonged to Quadrant C. Quadrant C’s learning styles were: linking learning to personal experiences and/ or learning through experiences.What I have learnt from the Hermann Brain activities this week is that I am an independent learner more than a team worker even though the activities think otherwise.
Did you disagree with any of the findings/observations? Explain
Yes, Quadrant C explained that I enjoyed telling stories and I like working with other people; I don’t really like telling stories unless they are funny or memorable, other than that I don’t tell stories a lot. I also don’t really enjoy working with other people. I feel that I can achieve much more if I work by myself and I am much more satisfied with my work if I have worked independently.
Were you surprised by anything you discovered about yourself this week? Consider for example, what you learnt about your learning style, working in teams or observing others in the group …
I wasn’t really surprised by anything this week, but I did enjoy finding out my score from the Hermann Brain activities; for example I liked circling the twenty-four sentences which sounded most like me, then figuring what quadrant I belonged to.
Do you think you rely too heavily on one style of learning? What new skills would you like to develop?
I don’t believe I rely too heavily on one style of learning but nor do I think it makes a difference if I do. Some new skills that I would like to learn would be multi-tasking with my team and my independence combined to help with work.
What questions has this raised about:
A. You as a person? Will I always do things independently in the future?
Will I change my ways through Galileo’ and become a team leader?
B. You as a learner?
Do I get high scores on work that I do independently? Do I get high scores on work that I do with a team?
Is there a big or small difference between independent scores and my team-work scores?
VIDEO BLOG – WEEK 2
Has already been marked :D
Reflection on the potatoes activity - week 3 homework 1. How did you feel when you learned you couldn’t use the potato’s number in your description? I didn’t feel any different I just thought ‘Oh great! Now my team has to specifically describe a potato to pupils even though the 9 other potatoes in the room looked similar in some sort of way’
2. Did you find it easier or harder to write in a group and why? This activity seems so much more like an individual task to me. It just wasn’t that great surrounding one potato with three other people trying to distinctively spot the different characteristics of a potato. If one person did it individually it would have been quicker and easier for ones self.
3. Describe the different methods used in your group to describe the potato, and explain which were the most effective and why. Our team actually measured where the unique marks on the potato were so the classifiers could exactly locate the mark on the potato and identify the potato form the others. This was practically the only method that my team used, and it was pretty affective as our classifiers indentified our potato quite fast.
4. What ‘roles’ did you observe being undertaken in your group? A measurer; one person measured with a ruler where a mark was, the observer; the observer look for the distinctive marks, the writer; the writer wrote down the measurements and wrote down all observations and the watchdog who obviously watched over for any cheaters who tried to peek at our number (there was a number under each potato so we could tell the difference b/w them).
5. Describe the multiple intelligences used by yourself and others in your group during this activity. How well did your group make use of these different intelligences to achieve its goal? Some multiple intelligences used by myself and others in my group were interpersonal; the ability to work co-operatively and to communicate with others and logical; the ability to recognise patterns and connections. We did very well because the classifiers guess our potato straight away!
6. Describe how your group worked together as a team. What qualities would a group have to make a ‘good team’ for this activity? We each had a ‘role’ to do so we all worked together co-operatively. Some qualities to building a ‘good team’ would be co-operation, listening, focus, communication and consideration skills.
7. What difficulties arose during each part of the activity (describing and ‘choosing the correct potato’)? Why did these problems arise? Some difficulties were that a lot of the potatoes had similar size, shape and marks; so at some stages some of the classifiers had no clue about which potato was which.
8. In retrospect, what else could your group have done to improve its performance in describing and selecting a potato? My group could have improved when we were trying to decide which potato to choose we jumped to conclusions quickly and didn’t talk to each other as much as we should have.
9. In what other way(s) could you have behaved within the group to assist with the task? Explain, as clearly as you can, why you chose not to behave in this way during the activity? I could have not acted silly during some parts of the activity and participated a lot more, but why i didn’t behave in that way during the activity is because i guess i just didn’t want to do work.
Who Owns Melbourne and Why? 5. Why did the British want to settle Melbourne in the first place? The British wanted to settle Melbourne because Batman's claim to this land was based on the European idea of land ownership and legal contracts – an idea that was totally unknown to the Indigenous people of Victoria. 6. How was land in Melbourne obtained by its founders? Explain. Supposedly John Batman confronted the Indigenous people and asked for the land; but of course the Indigenous people could not understand Batman and thought that he was asking to be accepted into their land. Not knowing what Batman really meant they handed Batman a handful of dirt (meaning acceptance) but Batman thought he now owned the land. 7. Was Batman’s Treaty successful? Explain. John Batman thought that he had bought 240,000 hectares of land and thought that he had negotiated with aboriginal ‘chiefs’ who were charge of the land (who ended up being the tribal leaders who didn’t decided to sell their peoples land) that he had bought the land ‘fair and square’, whereas the Wurundjeri people believed that land was not a possession, but a belonging – therefore they didn’t think that Batman had ‘‘bought’’ their land. In the end Batman did end up having the huge land but only by taking it from the people, so yes, Batman’s treaty was successful but it wasn’t correct. 8. After Batman and Fawkner came, how did Melburnians get their land? 9. Was the founding of Melbourne fair? Give your reasons: John Pascoe Fawkner has been stated as the true founder of Melbourne. I on the other hand don’t believe Fawkner as the ‘true founder’, and nor do I believe Batman as the ‘true founder’ because neither of them properly negotiated with the Indigenous people. Batman did not give the Wurundjeri people a fair trade with his gifts of blankets, handkerchiefs, shirts, sugar, apples and other things in exchange of 240,000 hectares of land. There is even proof that the Aboriginals gave woven baskets and spears when Batman exchanged those gifts! I believe that Batman was an unthoughtful man and I think that there were no ‘founders’ of Melbourne, but the Indigenous people were the first humans to ‘belong’ to Melbourne.
WEEK FIVE HOMEWORK a) Record what you eat over a period of four days
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Breakfast
1 ½ nutella toasts
1 cup of tea
1 hash-brown
1 cup of tea
1 bowl of Mini Wheats
1 bowl of ‘Plus’ cereal
Recess snack
2 muesli bars
2 muesli bars
2 mandarins
1 pear and 1 mandarin
Passion fruit yoghurt and 1 Turkish delight
Lunch
1 cheese, avocado and ham sandwich
1 avocado and chicken sandwich
1 cheese, avocado, tomato and turkey sandwich
Toasted avocado, cheese and tomato sandwich with a failed fruit smoothie
After school snack
Handful of biscuits and ½ a packet of raw noodles
-
3 mandarins, 1 pear and 1 yoghurt
Nothing
Dinner
1 Plate of cabanara
2 huge spoonfuls of oven-cooked potatoes and 2 slices of pork
Baked potatoes
Steak, vegies and chips (I went out for dinner)
b) For each day, choose ONE of the ethical factors from Monday's lesson and write 50 words on the attitude of your food consumption. You must cover at least 3 of the factors over the 4 days. Day 1 (Tuesday): Cruelty to Animals – I think that the way animals are bred, abused and slaughtered is horrible and should cease at this very instant and I also think that humans can eat other animals but we should just do it respectfully, kindly and peacefully. Day 2 (Wednesday): Water consumption – The amount of fruit I ate today was a lot, but the amount of water used to help make these fruits grow would be much more excessive than a lot. Today in Melbourne, the water levels are low and are continuing to get lower. We can change this and prevent drought if houses AND companies continue to lower their water usage, if we can continue this we can spend more water on plants, fruits and vegetables. If we don’t, the food we eat will possibly change. Day 3 (Thursday): Excessive Carbon Emissions – When I thought about the amount of food I eat that is wrapped and then think about the Carbon Emissions used to transport and make the food I feel like I should just live on fruit for a long period of time to make up for the amount of Carbon Emissions that I have used. Day 4 (Friday): Antibiotics use for livestock – As I looked back on my food consumption table I realised how much meat I had consumed over the period of four days. I was shocked and then I imagined all the antibiotics used for livestock to kill infections – but the more you use antibiotics the less effective it is. This means that our meats aren’t as clean and healthy as they should be. That’s baaaaaaaaad. c) Suggest some you could make your diet more ethical USING WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN YOUR CUPBOARD or EASILY ATTAINABLE by simply replacing brands / suppliers etc. ·Grow my own Fruit & Veg ·Buy less packaged foods ·Buy less meat and poultry ·Minimise the amount of fish I buy
WEEK 6 HOMEWORK For week six homework we have to comment on someone’s blog. I commented on Vivian’s third week blog. In the comment I suggested to fix up her grammar and punctuation mistakes and that she her blogs are very interesting.
COMMUNITY SERVICE ASSIGNMENT 3b) How did Ascot Vale Special School students benefit from your work with them? I think the classroom of senior students (15- 18 years old) I was assigned to at Ascot Vale Special School benefited my work because I think they all liked having ‘helpers’ around the room and the way David and I would remember their names, little things about them (e.g. what they are interested in, their favourite music and the way they behave in class) and special events (e.g. birthday parties, concerts and trips to far-away places) that were coming up each week. I think the students also benefited our presence because we were just like their new friends; someone they could talk to, trust and just laugh with.
Sometimes when I imagine the class after David and I have left to go back to Uni High I feel like our class would be so bored without us and then I feel sorry for the teacher because she has to manage the class without us; that’s why I think all Galileo students should stay at the school for the whole day; especially when you say goodbye to them and they shout goodbye and ask if your coming tomorrow L 3c) What Benefits did you receive from working with these students? Well firstly, when I get to the school in the morning and I see the kids come in through the door and they all give me a smile, even if it’s a scared or unsure smile I always give a huge smile back (because I am overwhelmed with happiness)– that’s a really great feeling. Or when I go up to room 7 – my assigned classroom – and I say hey to the class and they all shout back ‘HEELLOO!’ and the teacher gives me a huge smile because she is happy to have helpers in the classroom, that is also a really great feeling. I think from this service I have learnt not to be so scared around disabled kids because they really just want to talk to you. I have also learnt that the kids at Ascot Vale at a younger age have little difference in the way they learn compared to ‘normal’ kids at any other primary school; it’s only when they get older that you can see the differences. I think doing community service at Ascot Vale Special School has definitely changed my views on disabled people and I think this is a great benefit. 3d) What changes did you notice in yourself after a few weeks of attending community service? When I was first chosen to go to AVSS I was a bit unsure of what to expect but after a couple weeks of attendance I noticed that every week I was so badly wanting to go to AVSS because I just loved the way the kids treated me; they treated me like I was a teacher, like I was 15+ years older than them yet they were older than me - I felt like I had a meaning there. In the first couple of weeks of community service I remembered everyone’s name (it was pretty hard because there were two Daniel’s and there always different kids away every time), what they were going to do over the weekend and what they liked doing so if I saw or heard anything that had a relevance to what they were going to do over the weekend e.g. I would tell them when I saw them; this also made it easier for me to talk to them. I also noticed that I felt more comfortable around a stranger or a disabled person in a public area. 3g) Describe the relationship between you and your supervising teacher(s). In what ways was this relationship different of similar to what you normally experience with teachers at school? Sue, the teacher of room 7, wasn’t always there when David and I came into the class to help yet every time it was a new teacher they still depended on us a lot to look after the class. In fact last week (week 8) a new teacher Maryam was taking the class as Sue was sick again and she actually felt comfortable enough to let David and I run the class for about 20 minutes without even knowing who we were or what jobs we’d usually do in the class. I was pretty surprised that she let us run the class straight away and it made me realise that these teachers really depend and trust others to help support the class; I don’t think any teacher at University High school would let 14 year olds run a class of 15 to 18 year olds for 20 minutes. Every time we go to AVSS teachers really rely on our help no matter who we are.
Who are you as a learner? - Week 1 homework
Think back to the Hermann Brain Dominance test earlier this week …
What are your learning styles? What have you learnt about yourself from the Hermann Brain activities this week?
After following the steps to complete the Hermann Brain activities I discovered that I belonged to Quadrant C. Quadrant C’s learning styles were: linking learning to personal experiences and/ or learning through experiences. What I have learnt from the Hermann Brain activities this week is that I am an independent learner more than a team worker even though the activities think otherwise.
Did you disagree with any of the findings/observations? Explain
Yes, Quadrant C explained that I enjoyed telling stories and I like working with other people; I don’t really like telling stories unless they are funny or memorable, other than that I don’t tell stories a lot. I also don’t really enjoy working with other people. I feel that I can achieve much more if I work by myself and I am much more satisfied with my work if I have worked independently.
Were you surprised by anything you discovered about yourself this week? Consider for example, what you learnt about your learning style, working in teams or observing others in the group …
I wasn’t really surprised by anything this week, but I did enjoy finding out my score from the Hermann Brain activities; for example I liked circling the twenty-four sentences which sounded most like me, then figuring what quadrant I belonged to.
Do you think you rely too heavily on one style of learning? What new skills would you like to develop?
I don’t believe I rely too heavily on one style of learning but nor do I think it makes a difference if I do. Some new skills that I would like to learn would be multi-tasking with my team and my independence combined to help with work.
What questions has this raised about:
A. You as a person?
Will I always do things independently in the future?
Will I change my ways through Galileo’ and become a team leader?
B. You as a learner?
Do I get high scores on work that I do independently?
Do I get high scores on work that I do with a team?
Is there a big or small difference between independent scores and my team-work scores?
VIDEO BLOG – WEEK 2
Has already been marked :D
Reflection on the potatoes activity - week 3 homework1. How did you feel when you learned you couldn’t use the potato’s number in your description?
I didn’t feel any different I just thought ‘Oh great! Now my team has to specifically describe a potato to pupils even though the 9 other potatoes in the room looked similar in some sort of way’
2. Did you find it easier or harder to write in a group and why?
This activity seems so much more like an individual task to me. It just wasn’t that great surrounding one potato with three other people trying to distinctively spot the different characteristics of a potato. If one person did it individually it would have been quicker and easier for ones self.
3. Describe the different methods used in your group to describe the potato, and explain which were the most effective and why.
Our team actually measured where the unique marks on the potato were so the classifiers could exactly locate the mark on the potato and identify the potato form the others. This was practically the only method that my team used, and it was pretty affective as our classifiers indentified our potato quite fast.
4. What ‘roles’ did you observe being undertaken in your group?
A measurer; one person measured with a ruler where a mark was, the observer; the observer look for the distinctive marks, the writer; the writer wrote down the measurements and wrote down all observations and the watchdog who obviously watched over for any cheaters who tried to peek at our number (there was a number under each potato so we could tell the difference b/w them).
5. Describe the multiple intelligences used by yourself and others in your group during this activity. How well did your group make use of these different intelligences to achieve its goal?
Some multiple intelligences used by myself and others in my group were interpersonal; the ability to work co-operatively and to communicate with others and logical; the ability to recognise patterns and connections. We did very well because the classifiers guess our potato straight away!
6. Describe how your group worked together as a team. What qualities would a group have to make a ‘good team’ for this activity?
We each had a ‘role’ to do so we all worked together co-operatively. Some qualities to building a ‘good team’ would be co-operation, listening, focus, communication and consideration skills.
7. What difficulties arose during each part of the activity (describing and ‘choosing the correct potato’)? Why did these problems arise?
Some difficulties were that a lot of the potatoes had similar size, shape and marks; so at some stages some of the classifiers had no clue about which potato was which.
8. In retrospect, what else could your group have done to improve its performance in describing and selecting a potato?
My group could have improved when we were trying to decide which potato to choose we jumped to conclusions quickly and didn’t talk to each other as much as we should have.
9. In what other way(s) could you have behaved within the group to assist with the task? Explain, as clearly as you can, why you chose not to behave in this way during the activity?
I could have not acted silly during some parts of the activity and participated a lot more, but why i didn’t behave in that way during the activity is because i guess i just didn’t want to do work.
Who Owns Melbourne and Why?
5. Why did the British want to settle Melbourne in the first place?
The British wanted to settle Melbourne because Batman's claim to this land was based on the European idea of land ownership and legal contracts – an idea that was totally unknown to the Indigenous people of Victoria.
6. How was land in Melbourne obtained by its founders? Explain.
Supposedly John Batman confronted the Indigenous people and asked for the land; but of course the Indigenous people could not understand Batman and thought that he was asking to be accepted into their land. Not knowing what Batman really meant they handed Batman a handful of dirt (meaning acceptance) but Batman thought he now owned the land.
7. Was Batman’s Treaty successful? Explain.
John Batman thought that he had bought 240,000 hectares of land and thought that he had negotiated with aboriginal ‘chiefs’ who were charge of the land (who ended up being the tribal leaders who didn’t decided to sell their peoples land) that he had bought the land ‘fair and square’, whereas the Wurundjeri people believed that land was not a possession, but a belonging – therefore they didn’t think that Batman had ‘‘bought’’ their land. In the end Batman did end up having the huge land but only by taking it from the people, so yes, Batman’s treaty was successful but it wasn’t correct.
8. After Batman and Fawkner came, how did Melburnians get their land?
9. Was the founding of Melbourne fair? Give your reasons:
John Pascoe Fawkner has been stated as the true founder of Melbourne. I on the other hand don’t believe Fawkner as the ‘true founder’, and nor do I believe Batman as the ‘true founder’ because neither of them properly negotiated with the Indigenous people. Batman did not give the Wurundjeri people a fair trade with his gifts of blankets, handkerchiefs, shirts, sugar, apples and other things in exchange of 240,000 hectares of land. There is even proof that the Aboriginals gave woven baskets and spears when Batman exchanged those gifts! I believe that Batman was an unthoughtful man and I think that there were no ‘founders’ of Melbourne, but the Indigenous people were the first humans to ‘belong’ to Melbourne.
WEEK FIVE HOMEWORK
a) Record what you eat over a period of four days
1 cup of tea
1 cup of tea
2 mandarins
b) For each day, choose ONE of the ethical factors from Monday's lesson and write 50 words on the attitude of your food consumption. You must cover at least 3 of the factors over the 4 days.
Day 1 (Tuesday): Cruelty to Animals – I think that the way animals are bred, abused and slaughtered is horrible and should cease at this very instant and I also think that humans can eat other animals but we should just do it respectfully, kindly and peacefully.
Day 2 (Wednesday): Water consumption – The amount of fruit I ate today was a lot, but the amount of water used to help make these fruits grow would be much more excessive than a lot. Today in Melbourne, the water levels are low and are continuing to get lower. We can change this and prevent drought if houses AND companies continue to lower their water usage, if we can continue this we can spend more water on plants, fruits and vegetables. If we don’t, the food we eat will possibly change.
Day 3 (Thursday): Excessive Carbon Emissions – When I thought about the amount of food I eat that is wrapped and then think about the Carbon Emissions used to transport and make the food I feel like I should just live on fruit for a long period of time to make up for the amount of Carbon Emissions that I have used.
Day 4 (Friday): Antibiotics use for livestock – As I looked back on my food consumption table I realised how much meat I had consumed over the period of four days. I was shocked and then I imagined all the antibiotics used for livestock to kill infections – but the more you use antibiotics the less effective it is. This means that our meats aren’t as clean and healthy as they should be. That’s baaaaaaaaad.
c) Suggest some you could make your diet more ethical USING WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN YOUR CUPBOARD or EASILY ATTAINABLE by simply replacing brands / suppliers etc.
· Grow my own Fruit & Veg
· Buy less packaged foods
· Buy less meat and poultry
· Minimise the amount of fish I buy
WEEK 6 HOMEWORK
For week six homework we have to comment on someone’s blog. I commented on Vivian’s third week blog. In the comment I suggested to fix up her grammar and punctuation mistakes and that she her blogs are very interesting.
COMMUNITY SERVICE ASSIGNMENT
3b) How did Ascot Vale Special School students benefit from your work with them?
I think the classroom of senior students (15- 18 years old) I was assigned to at Ascot Vale Special School benefited my work because I think they all liked having ‘helpers’ around the room and the way David and I would remember their names, little things about them (e.g. what they are interested in, their favourite music and the way they behave in class) and special events (e.g. birthday parties, concerts and trips to far-away places) that were coming up each week. I think the students also benefited our presence because we were just like their new friends; someone they could talk to, trust and just laugh with.
Sometimes when I imagine the class after David and I have left to go back to Uni High I feel like our class would be so bored without us and then I feel sorry for the teacher because she has to manage the class without us; that’s why I think all Galileo students should stay at the school for the whole day; especially when you say goodbye to them and they shout goodbye and ask if your coming tomorrow L
3c) What Benefits did you receive from working with these students?
Well firstly, when I get to the school in the morning and I see the kids come in through the door and they all give me a smile, even if it’s a scared or unsure smile I always give a huge smile back (because I am overwhelmed with happiness)– that’s a really great feeling. Or when I go up to room 7 – my assigned classroom – and I say hey to the class and they all shout back ‘HEELLOO!’ and the teacher gives me a huge smile because she is happy to have helpers in the classroom, that is also a really great feeling. I think from this service I have learnt not to be so scared around disabled kids because they really just want to talk to you. I have also learnt that the kids at Ascot Vale at a younger age have little difference in the way they learn compared to ‘normal’ kids at any other primary school; it’s only when they get older that you can see the differences. I think doing community service at Ascot Vale Special School has definitely changed my views on disabled people and I think this is a great benefit.
3d) What changes did you notice in yourself after a few weeks of attending community service?
When I was first chosen to go to AVSS I was a bit unsure of what to expect but after a couple weeks of attendance I noticed that every week I was so badly wanting to go to AVSS because I just loved the way the kids treated me; they treated me like I was a teacher, like I was 15+ years older than them yet they were older than me - I felt like I had a meaning there. In the first couple of weeks of community service I remembered everyone’s name (it was pretty hard because there were two Daniel’s and there always different kids away every time), what they were going to do over the weekend and what they liked doing so if I saw or heard anything that had a relevance to what they were going to do over the weekend e.g. I would tell them when I saw them; this also made it easier for me to talk to them. I also noticed that I felt more comfortable around a stranger or a disabled person in a public area.
3g) Describe the relationship between you and your supervising teacher(s). In what ways was this relationship different of similar to what you normally experience with teachers at school?
Sue, the teacher of room 7, wasn’t always there when David and I came into the class to help yet every time it was a new teacher they still depended on us a lot to look after the class. In fact last week (week 8) a new teacher Maryam was taking the class as Sue was sick again and she actually felt comfortable enough to let David and I run the class for about 20 minutes without even knowing who we were or what jobs we’d usually do in the class. I was pretty surprised that she let us run the class straight away and it made me realise that these teachers really depend and trust others to help support the class; I don’t think any teacher at University High school would let 14 year olds run a class of 15 to 18 year olds for 20 minutes. Every time we go to AVSS teachers really rely on our help no matter who we are.